Chapter 34
Chapter 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Assassins and Expectations
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The masked assailants possessed considerable skill.
However.
“With you all here, what do I have to worry about?”
It took less than a few minutes to subdue them.
Led by the man called Samuel, Richard’s bodyguards had taken them all down.
“The proud Golden Mercenaries are here, after all.”
A smirk.
Goldian, ranked among the world’s top ten corporations and top ten guilds— the money it handled was on the scale of national budgets.
Threats like this were everyday occurrences for them.
Yet not once had anyone ever succeeded in assassinating Richard, the chairman of Goldian.
“You lot…”
Crunch.
Richard ground his heel into the shoulder of one of the subdued masked men as he spoke.
“Have you learned nothing?”
Crunch.
A sound like poison capsules bursting in their mouths.
Richard stood calmly, watching indifferently as they foamed at the mouth and turned blue, dying.
One of them.
“Guh!”
Before it was too late, Samuel grabbed one by the collar and dug the poison capsule out of his mouth.
“Kill… me…”
Even from this skilled assassin, the words carried a firm resolve not to betray his backers.
“Truly, you’ve learned nothing.”
Richard looked at him with utter disdain.
“I…”
Richard extended his hand, and one of the bodyguards handed him a dagger adorned with ornate decorations.
“I’ve never once asked the likes of you for your backers.”
Squeeze.
It was said that while Richard was a Player, his level didn’t reach that of a Ranker.
His level had been raised with the help of countless mercenaries and guild members.
So his dagger strike was nothing but crude.
Splurt!
It wasn’t enough to deliver a proper fatal wound.
But his face said it didn’t matter.
“Gurgle.”
It took longer for the masked man’s breath to stop than the time it took for the attack to happen, as he choked on bloody foam.
“Really.”
Richard wiped his hand with a white towel as if it had touched something filthy.
“By the way, what a disappointment.”
He said to Samuel.
“‘They’ aren’t coming, are they?”
His tone suggested he’d been waiting for someone.
And these pathetic assassins couldn’t possibly have been sent by them.
“Or does it not matter to them if it’s now or later?”
As Richard’s eyes darkened slightly, a group began approaching.
“……!”
Association members in their uniforms, one of whom was Jeong Seong-ho, vice chairman of the Korea Player Association.
“What… is this…?”
Jeong Seong-ho seemed bewildered by the gruesome scene before him.
“Ch-Chairman Richard. What on earth…?”
He’d rushed over upon hearing that Richard’s private jet—handling national budget-scale funds—had arrived earlier than expected. But what was this?
“Oh, it’s nothing. Flies always buzz around gold.”
“…….”
Jeong Seong-ho’s face subtly stiffened.
“Any issue with that?”
The masked men looked suspicious to anyone, and with the aftermath of explosions, it was clear Richard’s side were the victims.
“No.”
There might be room to make an issue of it, but complicating things with a figure like Richard wouldn’t benefit anyone.
“Though you’re late, welcome to Korea, Chairman.”
“Pleased to meet you, Vice Chairman.”
Amid the roughly cleared bodies.
Flash, flash!
They took commemorative photos as if nothing had happened.
*
*
*
Several days had passed since Richard and Goldian’s visit to Korea was widely reported.
There had been a few more assassination attempts in the meantime, all because word had spread that legendary items were among the auction lots.
A single item could change one’s fate—no, the destiny of generations.
That was why these desperate raids kept happening.
Piles of corpses accumulated daily at the hotel.
Yet Richard remained utterly calm.
And finally, the day of the auction arrived.
“…….”
At the Saman Convention Hotel, where auction preparations were complete, Richard’s face twisted.
“Have I expected too much, Samuel?”
“…….”
“Or perhaps ‘they’ were among that trash?”
None of the previous attacks had so much as scratched Richard.
The Golden Mercenaries of Goldian.
These personal bodyguards were all Rankers, and Samuel was known as one of the top among them.
Even special-grade assassins being repelled without a single casualty was hard to comprehend.
“Is this really ‘their’ home turf?”
Looking at the Golden Mercenaries made it understandable.
Unique items worth hundreds of millions or billions each.
The bodyguards, decked out head to toe in them, outclassed peers of similar skill by several times—up to sixfold in some cases.
“‘They’ won’t be among the attackers.”
Samuel spoke heavily.
“‘They’ aren’t this pathetic. They’re just…”
Samuel continued.
“Watching from afar.”
“I hope so.”
In the meantime, invited VIPs were entering the auction hall one by one.
Security for the entire venue was handled jointly by Goldian and Saman, one of Korea’s top five guilds.
From China, America, Japan, Europe.
Players, politicians, and tycoons of various nationalities appeared.
Arrogant yet tense, they exchanged greetings if they knew each other.
But Richard didn’t show himself despite their arrivals.
Tap, drip.
He seemed anxious, waiting for something.
“What a shame.”
Richard said.
“Sacred didn’t come, right?”
Sacred, Korea’s number one guild—though globally, just a decent one.
The intriguing part was.
“I was curious about the one using that ridiculous nickname, Golden Knight.”
Golden Knight, Go Woojin.
And.
“The King, Go Jaehan.”
Go Jaehan, using the nickname The King from his past overseas activities.
Finally.
“…I wanted to see Go Yohan in person.”
Go Yohan, who rose to fame alongside this Black Gate.
There were countless stories about him.
Wasn’t he originally a problem child, a low-skill Player?
Yet rumors spread that he’d played a major role in conquering the Black Gate, putting him in the spotlight.
“Great bloodlines in the past hid and humbled themselves to survive chaos.”
Indeed.
“Is he of a great bloodline?”
Richard shook his head.
The top in tiny Korea was just royalty of a small nation.
Proof: with the auction in Korea, only a few like those from Sacred were invited.
That was when.
“Chairman.”
Samuel addressed Richard.
“‘She’ has arrived.”
Richard’s face lit up for the first time.
“And…”
Now Samuel’s eyes gleamed.
“‘She’ has an escort.”
Richard finally began to move.
*
*
*
In just days, the Saman Convention Hotel had been remodeled entirely to Goldian’s tastes.
“That one over there is Greus, one of America’s top Rankers. Nickname…”
In one corner, a man and woman had arrived, drawing everyone’s attention.
In this invite-only venue for the qualified, most knew each other by face.
They’d crossed paths at past auctions or international events.
But not this man and woman.
“Who are they?”
Faces no one recognized.
No.
“Hm?”
Somehow familiar.
Albinism and tattoos.
“That’s the guy.”
“Go Yohan from Saint?”
“Saint’s qualified for an invite. So they conquered the Black Gate and now Saint’s pushing him forward?”
Go Yohan.
With the Black Gate becoming a global issue, his name and face had spread.
“Who’s next to him?”
An unfamiliar face beside the recently familiar name.
It was only natural they’d draw attention.
That was when.
“Shimamura-san, one moment.”
A man conversing with an executive from Japan’s massive guild glanced toward Go Yohan’s group.
“…Go Yohan?”
He too noticed Go Yohan, monopolizing attention off to the side.
Then, incredulous, he curled one corner of his mouth.
“Crazy.”
The man was from Saman, handling security for this Goldian auction.
More precisely, Saman’s second raid leader and son of the guild master, Lee Geonhu.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Raid Leader.”
“Call me Security Chief here.”
At Lee Geonhu’s call, a Saman guild member on guard approached and bowed.
“Check their invite. Sacred’s list.”
The guild member spoke into his earpiece, then reported back to Lee Geonhu.
“Sacred declined the invite.”
“Right?”
Handling security meant verifying every entrant’s background—that was Saman’s job.
And as this operation’s lead, Lee Geonhu knew Sacred had crazily refused to participate.
If so.
“Who’s that next to him?”
“No idea.”
“Looks like Go Yohan brought him.”
With Go Yohan from Sacred showing up, it was obvious something was off.
Especially since Goldian had ordered no escorts except for select VVIPs.
“Whoever let that punk in, find them now.”
Lee Geonhu straightened his clothes as he spoke.
“They’ll learn after a beatdown. What, Black Gate?”
Lee Geonhu muttered as he headed toward Go Yohan.
There were plenty of recent rumors about the noisy Go Yohan.
But Lee Geonhu and many others didn’t buy it.
A Player’s strength tied directly to level, and Go Yohan had almost no Player history.
It was mass hysteria from the abnormal Black Gate site, or Sacred’s scheme to prop him up later—conspiracy theories abounded.
Go Minji being there was one reason.
And.
“Go Yohan.”
Lee Geonhu was convinced the conspiracy was real.
Above all, his own experience proved it.
Swipe.
“Long time no see?”
Lee Geonhu was Go Yohan’s middle school classmate.